Key or permutation operated lock

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In locks for lockers, and particularly lockers for school gymnasium locker rooms and industrial plants, it is desirable that an individual user operate the lock by dialing a combination, but that authorized persons be able to unlock the locker by a master key. Heretofore, most combined key or permutation operated locks incorporated a complex latch dog mechanism selectively movable from a dogging position by either aligning slots in the tumblers or operating a key mechanism. Such latch dog mechanisms oftentimes have been extremely complex requiring numerous individual parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a combined key or permutation operated lock for locker doors or the like comprises a pivotally mounted latch bolt having an integrally formed fence thereon, a set of tumblers mounted on a fixed tumbler post for axial movement therealong, biasing means urging the tumblers toward a normal position wherein the latch bolt fence engages peripheral edges of the tumblers or moves into radial slots in the tumblers, when aligned, and key operated cam means for moving the tumblers axially along the post to a noninterfering position wherein the fence may freely move into a space vacated by the tumblers for permitting pivotal movement of the latch bolt to an unlocked position.

A pivotally mounted, spring biased upsetter arm moves with the pivoted latch bolt and engages radially extending notches formed in the tumblers for upsetting the combination and moving the dial off the last number of the combination whenever the latch bolt is released to effect opening the locker door.

Another feature of the present invention contemplates providing an arrow-shaped aperture in an escutcheon plate and forming an underlying dial plate with a brightly colored surface, thereby to form a reference marker for the dial.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front end view of a combined key or permutation operated lock constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the lock taken substantially along line Π-Π of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the lock of the present invention with a coyer plate therefor removed and showing the latch bolt in a latched position;

FIG. 4 is a plan view similar to FIG. 3 and showing the pivoted latch bolt in its unlatched position;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view with certain parts shown in elevation for clarity and illustrating the tumblersin a,noninterfering position;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view similar to FIG. 4 but rotated'90° therefrom and illustrating the tumblers in the noninterfering position;

FIG. 7 is an end view of a pivoted latch bolt for the lock of the present indention; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, enlarged end view of a dial and escutcheon plate of the lock of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, a combined key or permutation operated lock, constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, is generally shown at 10 and has a casing 11 mounted on an inside surface of a locker door panel 12 or the like and a cover plate 13 abutting the outside of the door panel and secured to the casing by fastening means such as nut and bolt assemblies 14 passing through aligned apertures as at 16,17 and 18 respectively formed in the cover, the door panel and the casing, thereby to securely mount the lock 10 in assembled relationship with the door panel.

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The casing 11 is a generally cup-shaped member having a bottom wall 21, sidewalls as at 22 and a lid portion 23 abutting the inside surface of the door panel 12 and having the attachment apertures 18 formed therethrough.

A tumbler post 24, centrally disposed within the casing 11, has a reduced end portion 26 received within an aperture 27 formed in the casing bottom wall 21. An outermost end portion as at 28 of the post 24 is swaged over peripheral edges of the aperture 27, thereby to securely affix the tumbler post at right angles to the bottom wall 21. The tumbler post 24 forms a pivotal mounting for a set of spaced tumblers 29, 30 and 31, spaced apart by washers as at 32 and biased outwardly along the post by a biasing spring 33, encircling the post and having opposite ends respectively seated on an inside surface 34 of the bottom wall 21 and a washer 36 abutting the bottom tumbler 31.

Means forming a pivoted latch bolt which may extend into an opening formed in a manually actuated slide bar or similar device of a locker door, comprise a C-shaped body portion 37 characterized by an offset bolt portion 38 extending therefrom and passing through an aperture 39 in the casing sidewall 22. The C-shaped latch bolt 37 partially encircles the tumblers 29, 30 and 31 and is characterized by a first arm portion 41 having an aperture 42 formed therethrough and receiving a pivot pin 42, affixed to the casing bottom wall 21 and extending along a portion of the sidewall 22 parallel to the tumbler post 24.

A torsion spring 43 encircles the pivot pin 42 and has one arm portion as at 44 engaging the inside of the casing sidewall 22 and an opposite arin 46 engaging a notch 47 in the latch bo]t arm 41, thereby to bias the pivoted latch bolt into a latching position wherein the bolt 38 lockingly retains the slide bar in locked position.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the latch bolt 37 has an integrally formed fence 48 extending from the body portion inwardly toward the tumbler post 24 and characterized by parallel sidewall surfaces 49 and 51 and an innermost end edge 52. As best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 6, the fence 48 has end edge portions 53 and 54 spaced apart a distance slightly exceeding the total width of the set of tumblers 29, 30 and 31. When the latch bolt 37 is in a locking, position, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the innermost end edge 52 of the fence 48 closely confronts outer peripheral edges as at 57 of the tumblers 29, 30 and 31, thereby to prevent inwardly directed, pivotal movement of the latch bolt 37 toward an unlocked position, as illustrated in FIG. 4, unless radially inwardly extending slots as at 58 formed in each of the tumblers are properly aligned.

A knob, generally indicated at 61, has a dial plate 62 pivotally mounted within an aperture 63 formed in the cover 13 and a sleeve portion 66 keyed within a throughbore 64 formed in the dial plate. An axially extending recess 67, formed in the sleeve portion 66 at an innermost end thereof, receives a pin 68 fixedly attached to the top tumbler 29, thereby to form a driving connection between the top tumbler and the knob 61. Selectively interengaging transfer pins as at 69, 70 and 71 formed respectively on the top tumbler 29, the intermediate tumbler 30 and the bottom tumbler 31 enable positioning of the radially extending slots 58 by rotating the knob 61 in required directions to register certain numbers of the combination marked on the dial plate 64 with a reference marker.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, and as best seen in FIG. 7, the reference marker comprises an arrow-shaped aperture 74 formed in an escutcheon plate 75 fitted over the cover plate 13 and having an opening 75α sized to closely fit a tapered portion of the dial plate 62. An outwardly projecting peripheral edge portion as at 62α of the dial plate 62 is visible through the arrow-shaped aperture 74 and may be brightly colored, thereby to provide a readily visible indicia or reference marker to facilitate dialing the combination or permutation required to align the tumbler slots 58.

Alignment of the radially inwardly extending slots 58 formed on the tumblers 29,30 and 31 by properly working the lock combination forms a recess for receiving the integrally

3,572,069 formed fence 48 on the latch bolt 37, thereby to enable pivotal movement of the latch bolt toward the unlocked position. Thus, the lock of the present invention includes means forming a permutation operated release mechanism incorporating a plurality of rotatably mounted, slotted tumblers and a dial for selectively rotating the tumblers. Further, the permutation operated mechanism of the present invention includes a fence formed integrally with a pivoted latch bolt, thereby not requiring a separate, complex latch dog mechanism.

It is also contemplated by the present invention to provide an upsetter mechanism for upsetting more than one of the combination tumblers whenever the lock is released by pivoting the latch bolt, thereby to provide a safeguard against picking the lock or solving the combination. The upsetter mechanism includes a substantially C-shaped upsetter arm 76 wrapped around the tumbler post 24 on a side thereof opposite the pivoted latch bolt 37 and having an outstanding flange 77 mounting an offset attachment arm 78 at an outer end thereof. An aperture 79 formed through the attachment arm 78 receives the pivot pin 42, thereby to pivotally mount the upsetter arm 76 within the casing 21.

An end of the C-shaped upsetter arm 76 opposite the attachment arm portion 78 has a flange or upsetter pawl 81 extending therefrom at right angles thereto and having an edge portion as at 82 radially outwardly overlying the peripheral edges 57 of the tumblers 29, 30 and 31. The latch bolt 37 has an end 83, opposite of the pivotally mounted end portion 41, operatively engaging a face surface 84 of the flange or upsetter pawl 81, thereby forming a driving connection between the latch bolt 37 and the upsetter arm 76 for pivotally moving the upsetter arm with the latch bolt as the latter pivotally moves from the locked position to the unlocked position. In that manner, the innermost end edge 82 of the upsetter pawl 81 pivots into engagement with notches as at 86 formed on the periphery of two or more of the tumblers 29,30 and 31. A tension-type biasing spring 87, having one end portion hooked into an aperture 88 in the upsetter pawl 81 and an opposite end portion secured to a tab 89 which in turn is affixed to the casing sidewall 22, urges the upsetter arm 76 toward the pivoted latch bolt 37 for pivotally moving the upsetter arm in a counterclockwise direction whenever the latch bolt returns to the locked position, thereby to rotate the tumblers in a counterclockwise direction until the upsetter pawl 81 is withdrawn from the notches 86, and thus rotate the knob 61 off a last number of the combination subsequent to completing the combination and withdrawing the fence 48 from the aligned slots 58.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, key operated cam means are provided for selectively shifting the set of tumblers 29, 30 and 31 axially along the tumbler post 24 and against the bias of the spring 33 to a noninterfering position wherein the fence 48 formed on the pivoted latch bolt 37 may freely move into a space vacated by the shifted tumblers, thereby to enable release of the lock alternatively by operating the permutation tumblers or by actuating the key operated cam mechanism.

The key operated cam means generally comprise a cylindrical cam 92 received within an axially extending, central throughbore 93 formed in the sleeve portion 66 of the knob 61 for axial sliding movement therewithin and a cam follower pin 94 operatively attached to a key plug 96 for rotational movement therewith whenever an appropriately configured key as at 97 operates the key plug. The cylindrical cam 92 has an axially elongated slot 98 cut into a sidewall thereof and receiving an innermost end of a set screw (not shown) passing through the sleeve 66, thereby to restrain rotational movement of the cylindrical cam 92 within the throughbore 93 and only permit axially directed sliding movement of the cam within the throughbore. An end wall 99 of the axially extending slot 98 forms a stop surface engageable with the set screw for limiting axial extension of the cam 92 outwardly of the throughbore 93. An innermost end as at 101 of the cylindrical cam 92 is squared off and abuts an outermost face surface 102 of the top tumbler 29, while an opposite end of the cylindrical cam has a cam surface 103 formed thereon for engagement with the cam follower pin 94.

The cam follower pin 94 is welded or otherwise secured diametrically across an end portion of a post 104 having an end opposite of the pin affixed, as by welding, to the key plug 96 for rotation by the key 97. The post 104 is loosely received within a throughbore 106 of the cylindrical cam 92 for enabling relative sliding and rotating movement therebetween. Opposite end portions as at 107 of the cam follower pin 94 engage the cam surface 103.

In order to translate rotational movement of the cam follower pin 94 into axially directed movement of the cylindrical cam 92, and thus shift the tumblers 29, 30 and 31, the cam surface 103 has a pair of camming surfaces 109 extending circumferentially and axially of the cylindrical cam 92 and each encompassing an angle of approximately 90°. The camming surfaces 109,109 extend from a pair of diametrically opposed flats as at 108 to another pair of diametrically opposed flats as at 110, axially spaced from the first pair of flats a distance equal to the distance A, as illustrated in FIG. 6, which is the required distance for moving the outer face surface 102 of the top tumbler 29 from the forwardmost position, as illustrated in FIG. 2, to a position inwardly of the end edge 54 of the latch bolt fence 48, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus, as the pin 94 is rotated via the key plug 96 by the key 97 through an angle of 90°, the cylindrical cam 97 axially extends from the sleeve counterbore 93, thereby to axially shift the set of tumblers 29, 30 and 31 against the bias of the spring 33 to the noninterfering position for allowing the latch bolt fence 48 to move into the space vacated by the tumblers, thereby to enable pivotal movement of the latch bolt toward the unlocked position.

From the foregoing, it should be noted that the lock of the present invention may alternatively be released by properly dialing a combination to align tumbler slots for permitting a fence integrally formed with a pivoted latch bolt to enter the aligned slots or by operating a key plug with an appropriately configured key to actuate cam means for axially shifting the tumblers to a noninterfering position, wherein the latch bolt fence may enter the space vacated by the tumblers and thereby permit release of the latch bolt.

Although those versed in the art may suggest various minor modifications, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.